Viggo Mortensen To Star In Captain Fantastic

The screenplay for the comedy drama Captain Fantastic has been called the best script that film distributor Entertainment One has seen since Little Miss Sunshine. Now the cast for what could shape up to be one of the most acclaimed films of 2015 is coming together. Viggo Mortensen has been cast as the lead role. The imdb.com tagline: “A father living in the forests of the Pacific Northwest with his six young kids tries to assimilate back into society.”

Also joining Mortensen will be Steve Zahn, Frank Langella, Kathyrn Hahn, Missi Pyle, and Erin Moriarty. Matt Ross is set to direct.

Entertainment One acquired the international rights to the film earlier this week. “This is a project we all fell in love with and was voted best script of 2014 by our distribution teams on the ground,” Entertainment One President Harold van Lier said in a statement. “It is a very original story, both funny and deeply emotional and a wonderful role for Viggo. I don’t think we have read anything like it since Little Miss Sunshine, but this is altogether very different.”

In the film Mortensen plays Ben, a father of six, who has turned his back on society and gone totally off the grid. He teaches his children survival and combat skills. He also homeschools his kids and raises them in the style of Thoreau’s Walden Days. When his character is forced to leave his comfort zone of the great outdoors of the Pacific Northwest and face modern society, Ben struggles mightily with the adjustment.

You can also check out Mortensen in two more films that have already completed production: Lisando Alonso’s drama Jauja and the French film Far From Men.